Understanding the marriage of Moto and Lenovo

The combined Motorola Lenovo proposition is undoubtedly a compelling one – together the brands are the third largest seller of smartphones in the world. But despite Motorola’s renaissance, many have questioned exactly how it fits into Lenovo’s long-term plans. However, as the company’s GM for UK and Ireland Nick Muir explained to Mobile at Mobile World Congress, there was clear vision for the combined proposition going forward.

‘The Lenovo stand at Mobile World Congress is a good example of how the two brands fit together; the Lenovo brand is everywhere, but then where appropriate the Motorola brand is integrated. Something that could be awkward is actually smooth and complementary, we don’t clash on product sets. Across the globe there is a straightforward strategy of how we work together. Motorola operates as a separate entity, but there is a lot to be gained from its relationship with Lenovo,’ Muir explained.

Going forward, Muir said that there would be the potential to combine the firms’ two ranges where it was appropriate: ‘For certain channels that take Moto and Lenovo products it makes sense to combine them.’

Last year was a successful one for Motorola, with steadily improving financials and a number of popular products including the Moto 360 wearable. Muir said the brand is hoping to continue to make progress in the space in 2015: ‘On the wearable front we have no intention of letting things slide, although we have nothing as of yet to announce, it is of strategic importance to Motorola. With the Moto 360 watch, when we were first showing it internally we knew we’d hit design gold. It’s helped greatly by Android Wear; we were looking at wearables for a while but Android Wear provided a great platform to work with.’

The mid-segment of the smartphone market is one that has been tipped by a number of industry players to really grow in 2015. Motorola made great strides in this market in 2014 and is hoping to continue moving forward: ‘We’ve had quite a lot of success with the E, the G and the X. The democratisation of the smartphone market is important to us and has been one of the ingredients of our success. The user interface on our products is critical and we are particularly pleased with what we offer the customer.

‘The industry is finding that trends considered for the high end are coming right the way through and that’s the killer point. The pools where people are buying phones are currently in the medium to low, and in the medium to high that solid medium level is missing. Motorola’s strength is the mid to low tier and we do